We’ve been trying to teach Finley to use her spoon. A typical meal involves her dipping the spoon in the bowl a few times and bringing it to mouth. After a few bites, she starts to put her hands in the bowl and finger paint with the food on her tray. Then, she’ll tip over the bowl and pour out the contents. If I’m really lucky, she’ll run her hands through her hair.
Now, I know it’s supposed to take time. And I’m okay with the mess. I guess I just wanted to know if there’s any tips, tricks, or suggestions from parents who have been through this already. Is there some magical spoon that makes learning this skill easier?

Finley and “e-ya” having fun in the cart at Costco.

Having bath time fun with lo lo.

Finley knows that Christmas is all about celebrating Jesus, so she got really upset when we took her to see Santa. Merry Christmas!

We’ve been really busy the last few weeks with all sorts of fun Christmas activities. Even though Finley is still so young, I love starting family traditions that we can continue throughout the years. Here’s some pictures from the last few weeks.

Our Christmas card photo (and yes i know finley looks like a boy, but it’s the best we could get)

our fun afternoon with jaime and travis and their new doggie

at the botanical gardens in bellevue. i don’t recommend going on a saturday night!

at snowflake lane.
brian’s work party
all dressed up to go see the evil and scary santa (i will post that pic when i scan it)
i’m sorry but i just think she is the cutest thing ever. I LOVE HER!
This would be her saying “up”. It’s much better than the grunt she was using before.

All bundled up to play in the snow. We got over 7 inches!

She touches the snow as says, “brrrrrrrrr”. so cute!
having fun with papa
i won’t lie, we’ve spent the last few days staying cozy in our p.j’s all day long.

Here she is dancing with her barnyard friends on baby mozart

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkEaS7Tgnk&hl=en&fs=1]

her fake cry. it’s so hard not laugh.
just on her way to a business meeting in her business skirt.

can you believe i have a 13 month old that isn’t interested in the christmas tree?

this was bought for finley, since she is soooooo into birds.
don’t mind the tape. we’re supposed to paint the door…if we ever get around to it.

I don’t typically like to complain on our blog, or write about negative things. But I just have to document this as the worst week EVER! Half of Brian’s family came down with a 24-hour bug after our early Thanksgiving celebration so I figured that’s what Finley had. Oh no. We should be so lucky! We had some super strand virus ( vomiting, fever, runny nose, sore throat, earaches and cough).
It was manageable for the first few days while only Finley was sick, but then when I got it, things went south fast. In short, there was: lots of puking, many loads of laundry, sleepless nights on the couch, numb arms from holding a baby for 5 days straight, lots of tears-from both of us, lots of pouting about all the fun plans that we had to miss out on (especially Thanksgiving dinner!), a trip to the doctor, over a pound lost in 4 days-not by me:( , many pathetic phone calls to Brian begging him to come home, and hours and hours spent watching baby mozart. Whew. I can’t imagine having multiple sick kids. How does Kate Gosselin do it? Anyway, Finley is feeling better, and as I type she is napping in her own bed! Hooray. Okay, pity party over. I guess I better go and shower for the first time in (I’m not telling) how many days…
Here are some pictures from the last few weeks, and there’s more in the 13 month album.visiting pops

at our favorite park-a few minutes later a bird pooped on my head.

My first ever pie. Pops said, and I quote, “now that’s a pumpkin pie!”

Cousins holding hands, at our early Thanksgiving celebration.

Having fun with her favorite friends…her pumpkins.

One of her happier moments in the stroller with Isabella. The girl does not like to be confined.

Sick, on the couch. None the wiser that I twisted out from underneath her.

I knew she was feeling better when she got up from the couch for a little dance with with the animals.

Finley getting a little PG 13 with her boyfriend, Logan.She loves playing with her babies!

Nothing irks me more than when she won’t leave her hair alone!!!This is her new thing that she does when she’s feeling emotional (when we say “no” or when someone takes a toy, or hurts her). It’s so precious!

Finley loves sitting at her table and doing art. We’re working on keeping the crayons out of her mouth.Celebrating Grandpa’s birthday
The first time we ever spent ALL day apart.

We love playing on our deck any chance we can get. At least global warming is good for something!

Just looking cute.

This is Finley’s new phrase. I guess I’ve passed on my old-lady verbiage to my daughter.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fIL4r8VcaU&hl=en&fs=1]

A trip to Michaels, $11.00, a little hot glue, and wah lah…

From very early on her life, Finley was was nicknamed our “little strawberry bon-bon”. We’re not really sure how it came about, or why it stuck…but I guess there’s worse things to be called. There was no question when it came time for picking her first halloween costume. And what a darling little strawberry she was. She even left her “stem” on all night. We decided not to take her trick-or-treating, since she can’t eat the candy anyway. Plus, we think it’s more fun to stay home and hand out candy. She was thoroughly entertained checking out all the costumed people that came to the door. I say “people” instead of “kids”, because we had quite a mature crowd stop by. I’m not talking about the awkward high schooler, who really shouldn’t be trick-or-treating anymore. I’m talking about 50 year old men, sporting pot bellies and gray mustaches underneath their costumes. However, the winner of the night was the fellow who starting cussing me out because I only gave him one candy bar! I guess he didn’t feel the need to show respect to his elders, since it’s quite likely that he’s older than me… All in all, we had a great night with our little strawberry. I had a hard time narrowing down which pics to upload because she was grinning all night. Check out more pics in the album…

Finley and I took advantage of the beautiful weather today and went to the park. Finley loves reading her book about ducks, so it was a real hit when we ran into these guys at the pond. Apparently, I have a hidden talent…duck calling. Because I said a few “quacks” and we were swarmed.Having fun crunching the leaves.
Getting a little sassy…Cold, red nose.
Is there anything prettier?I can’t believe that I’m posting a video of me singing, for a second time. But I thought you should see that our sweet girl is already praising the Lord. She’s on her way to trying out for the worship team…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AerZJ74VOMA&hl=en&fs=1]

This weekend we celebrated fall by having a harvest day. We made scones for breakfast, went to the pumpkin patch, ate yummy homemade soup, carved pumpkins, roasted the seeds, played games, and watched football. I love this time of year! There are more pictures from our day in the 12 month album…